Canada adds Burns, Thornton to World Cup roster

Forwards Giroux, Marchand, Duchene among final seven selections

Team Canada will have a very different look at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

With the final seven players named to the roster Friday, Canada will have nine players who were not on the gold medal-winning team at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, representing a fairly significant change of the guard.

Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong named forwards Matt Duchene of the Colorado Avalanche, Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers, Brad Marchand of the Boston Bruins and Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks and defensemen Brent Burns of the Sharks, Jake Muzzin of the Los Angeles Kings and Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues as the final seven players on the 23-man roster.

Burns, Giroux, Marchand, Muzzin and Thornton were not in Sochi, joining goaltenders Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby and forwards Steven Stamkos and Tyler Seguin as the new additions to the Canada roster from the Olympics two years ago.

It will be the first time representing Canada in a best-on-best tournament at the senior men's level for all but one of those nine players. The lone exception is Thornton, 36, who won gold with Canada at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey, the last time this event was held.

Thornton was tied with Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators for fourth in the NHL with 82 points in 82 games in the regular season and has maintained the same point-per-game pace in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 18 points in 18 games to help the Sharks reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time.

Giroux was tied with Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins for eighth in points among Canadian players with 67 and had the second best faceoff percentage on the team at 57.5 percent, trailing only the 58.6 percent of Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Marchand was second among Canadian players with a career-high 37 goals, including four shorthanded, tied with Toews for third in the League.

Duchene, the only holdover forward from Sochi named to the team Friday, established a new career high with 30 goals this season.

Pietrangelo had 37 points in 73 regular-season games and had 10 points in 20 games before the Blues were eliminated from the playoffs by the Sharks on Wednesday. He has a strong history with Canada coach Mike Babcock from Sochi and Armstrong, his general manager with the Blues.

Burns had a career-high 75 points in the regular season and has 20 points in 18 playoff games with the Sharks, a dangerous power-play weapon who can seemingly shoot from anywhere.

Muzzin is likely guaranteed a spot on the third pair as the third defenseman on the team that shoots from the left side. Muzzin played a bit with Drew Doughty this season with the Kings, but is more likely to be paired with either Pietrangelo or Burns.

The 2016 World Cup of Hockey will be played Sept. 17 to Oct. 1 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto. All games will be televised by ESPN in the United States and Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada.

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